There are multiple wireless radio broadband data standards including the Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) data standard. EVDO is a wireless radio broadband data standard adopted by many CDMA mobile phone service providers, and is standardized by 3GPP2, as part of the CDMA2000 family of standards. The initial design of EVDO was developed for a greater-than-2-Mbps downlink for stationary communications and given the numerical designation IS-856.
Compared to EDGE networks employed by GSM networks, the EVDO standard is significantly faster and provides access to mobile devices with air interface speeds of up to 2.4 Mbps with Revision 0 and up to 3.1 Mbps with Revision. A. There are other competing standards that include HSDPA, WiMAX, and other such wireless broadband standards.
EVDO Revision A is becoming the successor to the first revision of the standard, EVDO Revision 0. Revision A offers fast packet establishment on both the forward and reverse links along with air interface enhancements that reduce latency and improve data rates. In addition to the increase in the maximum burst downlink rate from 2.45 Mbps to 3.1 Mbps, Revision A is a significant improvement in the maximum uplink data rate, from 153 kbps to a maximum uplink burst rate of 1.8 Mb/s. The progressive evolution from the EVDO Revision A specification includes the EVDO Revision B and Revision C specifications. These future revisions provide additional features such as higher downlink and uplink data rates.
Major carriers continue to upgrade their wireless broadband communication systems and architecture, and in 2007 some carriers have announced a plan to upgrade EVDO networks from Revision 0, also referred to as “Rev 0”, to Revision A, also referred to as “Rev A.” Like most deployments, it is expected that the upgrade from Rev 0 to Rev A will be a gradual process where there will be some degree of coexistence between EVDO Rev 0 and Rev A within a carrier network system. The coexistence between different wireless networking standards may be localized or may span a much broader geographic area.
The Rev 0 and Rev A specification comprise various protocols each having many sub-types. Each protocol also has a default sub-type that is supported by all Access Terminals (ATs) and Access Nodes (ANs), which are compliant with the High Rate Packet Data (HRPD) specification. The HRPD specification has undergone a revision in which new subtypes for existing protocols and also new protocols and applications are introduced. By introducing these new protocol subtypes, new protocols and new applications, the AT capabilities are enhanced.
However, determining the wireless broadband communication standards for a particular wireless broadband coverage area can be ambiguous. For example, when a 1×CDMA capable handset or PC card detects the CDMA Revision associated with a particular base station, the process for determining the Revision number is determined by looking at the P_REV number in the Sync message. But unlike previous CDMA revision conventions, the Revision number in the Sync message for the EVDO Rev 0 standard and the Rev A standard are identical, i.e. the revision number for both specifications is 1. Thus, the determination of the Revision number for wireless broadband communications is ambiguous.
Additionally, the AT's reliance on a Sync message is further complicated by the AT moving between coverage areas that are Rev 0 compliant and Rev A compliant. This can be observed by how carriers set their Max Rev and Min Rev in a Sync Message. Determining whether an EVDO device is operating in the new Rev A mode or Rev 0 in a given network can be ambiguous because the AT can operate in any of the multiple personalities the AT has negotiated during the previous session negotiations throughout the wireless network.
It would therefore be beneficial to overcome the ambiguity associated with the Sync message and determining data rates capability for packet data communications. Additionally, it would assist the user or subscriber to have a real-time indication of the data rate capability in a particular coverage area. More particularly, it would be beneficial to allow the AT to determine the difference between a Rev 0 and a Rev A coverage area without relying on the Sync message.